Key part of health exchange site down for repairs

Website taken offline Wednesday afternoon

Lizelda Lopez from Covered California chats with Teo about the latest enrollment numbers and how you can access your health care services.

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Lizelda Lopez from Covered California chats with Teo about the latest enrollment numbers and how you can access your health care services.

A key part of California's online marketplace to shop for health insurance has been offline since it began malfunctioning Wednesday.

The exchange, known as Covered California, issued a news release Thursday saying the enrollment function on its website, www.coveredca.com, was taken offline Wednesday afternoon to address what it described as a software malfunction.

It said repair work was going on around the clock and that engineers hoped to restore functionality by Friday morning.

Earlier this week, Covered California reported that 829,000 people had signed up for individual policies through the first two weeks of February and that another 877,000 applicants were determined to be likely eligible for coverage through Medicaid.